5 Must-Have, No-Cost Resources for Homeschooling

I received these in an email from KnowledgeQuest (www.KnowledgeQuestMaps.com):

Top 5 Must-Have No-Cost Homeschooling Resources

(These are not listed in any particular order because they are all good!  Bookmark or sign up for them all!)

1. Jim Erskine’s Freebie of the Day – http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/.  If you are not aware of this site, then I am excited to share it with you.  Jim works with homeschool publishers to provide you with 1 freebie each day.  The link to the freebie is only active for 24 hours, so you have to act fast, but these are quality offerings and not just filler junk.  Trust me, I have participated in this program and we have given away a full U.S. geography curriculum on one occasion and another full ebook on another occasion.  Other publishers are doing the same thing.  So sign up using the “Join List” tab at the top of the page.
2. The Old Schoolhouse’s Teacher Toolbox – http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/E_News/index.php#teacherstoolbox.  Most of you are probably aware of their Freebie Friday newsletter (if you are not, then sign up for that one as well).  But the Teacher Toolbox newsletter is a lesser known treasure.  The Teacher’s Toolbox is a great way to inject something extra into your teaching plans especially when you are homeschooling on a shoestring.
3. The Homeschool Mom Unit Studies – http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/schoolroom/unitstudies.php.  Actually, the entire Homeschool Mom site is a gem and you should spend some time there getting familiarized with it and find out what it has to offer.  But I specifically highlighted the unit study page because unit studies are a great way to homeschool your children especially if you are working with limited funds.  You can teach them all the same topic but at varying levels.  You can often utilize library books and online information resources – all for free. 
4. Donna Young Printables and Resources – http://donnayoung.org/index.htm.  Yes, this site is a treasure trove of lessons, planners and forms.  There is a form for everything you could ever need.  I especially like her diplomas!  If you are looking for a specific form, a planner or a lesson for a certain subject, make sure that you check here!  Donna Young has so many useful forms and resources that you will think you have hit the jackpot.
5. Homeschooling ABCs Free 5 Day MiniClass – http://www.homeschoolingabcs.com.  Sometimes when you are throwing it all together yourself and not using pre-made curriculum, you can start to wonder if you are on the right track.  Worry no longer… sign up for the free 5 day mini-class at the site above and receive information on:

Ø      What to Teach and When

Ø      4 Steps to Homeschooling Success

Ø      Homeschooling on a Dime

Ø      Getting the Help You Need

Ø      Planning and Scheduling

As of June 28, 2009 Progressive Phonics is FREE (thank Socorro for the email)

FROM THE SITE:

Progressive Phonics all-in-one reading program

Progressive Phonics is an all-in-one reading program that is easy, fun, and totally FREE—that’s right, totally and completely free!

And with Progressive Phonics, ANYONE can teach a child to read and write in just a few minutes a day, which makes it ideal for parents, teachers, tutors, volunteers and home-schoolers.

 No experience necessary. Just pick a book and start reading it with your child/students.

 Matching handwriting worksheets and activity sheets for each book — when children write what they learn, they learn it better.

 Also teaches the essential sight-words (phonics rule-breakers) that most phonics programs fail to teach.

Instant access — download and use today. (Free registration required, but there are sample books you can look at before registering.)

Our books can be read on-screen or printed on your color printer. Each book takes 4–8 minutes to print and uses as little ink and paper as possible.

But don’t judge a book by it’s home page. Read one of our books with a child and see for yourself.

www.progressivephonics.com

Free Grammar Course

English Banana offers a very comprehensive free grammar course.  Some of it is geared to English as a second language learners, but can very easily be used as a core curriculum for native English speakers as well through middle school.  There are games, coursebooks, and much more at www.englishbanana.com and best of all it’s FREE.

Love virtual tours?

How about over 300 free virtual tours?  All on ONE website?  Look no further!  http://www.virtualfreesites.com/museums.interest.html

Webrangers Program offered by the US National Park Services

From the site:

The National Park Service’s on-line Junior Ranger program for kids of all ages. If you love your National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites, this site is for you.  Play more than 50 games and learn about your National Parks.

Share park stories and pictures with other WebRangers around the world in My Community.  Now there are 83,259 registered WebRangers; 3,538 have earned WebRangers patches by completing all of the activities.

http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/

FREE Science Curriculum – Classic Science – Elementary Life Science

and not only is the elementary life science curriculum free, but Mr. Q has so generously included links to online resources that correspond with each lesson.  Big props to Mr. Q for providing such a wonderful resource 🙂
http://www.eequalsmcq.com/index.htm

Mindsprinting.com is one of the most awesome FREE educational resources on the ‘Net

FROM THE SITE:

In 2003 tutoring was not really an option for most families. Small group tutoring in well-known centers ran as high as $500 per month and worksheet programs, such as Kumon, cost $85 – $110 per subject per month. And if cost wasn’t the problem, time was, because driving to tutoring centers was another time-consuming obligation. That left most parents without the ability to provide their kids the help they needed. For others, that meant trying to tutor their kids themselves: assessing knowledge levels, creating lesson plans from online libraries or purchased software/books, and teaching skills that may not have been revisited for years. In short, at a time when polls continually showed most parents were extremely concerned about their children’s education, most parents were without a reasonable solution.

And that’s when, one lazy afternoon, we were struck with the idea that later evolved into MINDsprinting. As parents we knew those problems all too well. So, we asked ourselves, why hasn’t anyone created an affordable, convenient, quality tutoring program using the greatest delivery system the world has ever known – the Internet? And we spent the next 2+ years researching, designing, and building an online tutoring system that would satisfy us as parents.

• We sought and found experienced educators with a curriculum they had proven successful over the course of 20+ years.
• We developed an interactive Assessment Test that would analyze each individual student’s skills and needs and tailor a program just for him/her.
• We built a system that would assign lessons based upon the results of the last lesson to ensure mastery of skills.
• We designed a user friendly website where: kids could access and print their own lessons (we wanted them to learn the time-tested way – doing lessons by hand; not staring at a screen for hours); Mom or Dad could quickly correct lessons and enter results; and progress would be tracked and easily shared with teachers.
• In January 2005 MINDsprinting officially launched. Over the next 2 1/2 years, thousands of kids around the world enrolled. Some learned of us on the Internet, while others were members of groups where our programs were used (e.g. various Boys & Girls Clubs of America) or endorsed (e.g. UAW-Ford, AFGE, Wal-Mart). Until finally, in 2007, a combination of opportunity, technology, and a little luck allowed us to take the most gratifying step of all: to provide our programs for FREE – and ensure every child has the opportunity to receive quality tutoring.

In January 2005 MINDsprinting officially launched. Over the next 2 1/2 years, thousands of kids around the world enrolled. Some learned of us on the Internet, while others were members of groups where our programs were used (e.g. various Boys & Girls Clubs of America) or endorsed (e.g. UAW-Ford, AFGE, Wal-Mart). Until finally, in 2007, a combination of opportunity, technology, and a little luck allowed us to take the most gratifying step of all: to provide our programs for FREE – and ensure every child has the opportunity to receive quality tutoring.

At the same time we added a new State Standards Program for math that addresses the skills required on each state’s annual proficiency exam. This unique program gives parents, teachers, and schools a FREE tool to help ensure their students are prepared for the exam. We believe this unique program (and our new custom Reports capability) will assist schools in their efforts to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

We know there are those who frown on ads even though the most-visited websites today (including kid’s sites) contain them. To them we say, you may rest assured we did not take this step without assurances from our educators that the integrity of our programs (and the student experience) would remain intact. So we hope that you will take a brief moment to sample our free Assessment Test and proven programs. We are confident you will be pleased with the results.

www.mindsprinting.com

Free Online Homeschooling Classes – Open to ALL Homeschoolers

FROM THE SITE:

In response to demand for online homeschooling facilities, Excellence in Education Academy in association with Abacus Educational Services is sponsoring a free online schoolroom for the use of homeschoolers everywhere. Any homeschooling parent may be added as a teacher and may create resources and activities on this site.

http://abacus-es.com/eie/free_homeschooling_class.html

FREE Practical Money Skills for Life – Financial Literacy Programs

There are CD-ROMs as well as printed materials covering everything from budget planning to identity theft and they’re all FREE!

https://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/resources/free_materials/print.php

Free Online Classes with Self-made Scholar

In addition to free classes covering everything from acting, Arabic and English as a second language, there are links to free libraries, articles, online resouces and more.

http://selfmadescholar.com/b/